Tale as Old as Time
by Miss.Meiks
Summary: One upon a time . . . Wicked meets Beauty and the Beast. Gelphie in later chapters.
1. Tale as old as Time

_**Disclaimer:**_ _All characters belong to Gregory Maguire and L. F. Baum. Beauty and the Beast concept belongs to Disney. I'm merely borrowing them. This goes for all following chapters as well, so please excuse me if I don't retype this every time._

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_**Tale as old as Time**_

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Once upon a time, in a kingdom faraway, there lived a beautiful princess. She was given all she wanted, and wanted for nothing. He parents gave her everything her heart could ever desire, so that she would be happy when they went on their travels. However, in being so lavished upon she became spoiled and selfish. She saw nothing but outward appearances, and would only do favors if they benefitted her as well.

In the winter of her sixteenth year, an old beggar came knocking on the palace door. The disheveled old man sought shelter from the cold, and in return offered a single rose for the kindness. Galinda, the princess, on the other hand could see no good from helping the beggar, and saw no beauty in the rose he offered. Repulsed by his appearance, she refused him shelter. The beggar warned her to not be deceived by looks, but still she turned him away.

It was then that the old beggar's ugliness vanished, and he turned into a powerful Wizard. Seeing this Galinda pleaded with the Wizard to forgive her. The Wizard, however, had made up his mind for he knew that there was no longer any goodness in the princess's heart. He cast a powerful spell on her, and the entire palace.

The once beautiful princess turned into a horrible beast. Before leaving the Wizard gave her two gifts. The first was the rose, which he told her would bloom until her twenty first birthday. After that day the rose would wither, and die, and when that happened, Galinda would remain a beast forever. There was a way to break the spell however. If Galinda could learn to love another and have that someone fall in love with her in return, despite her ugliness, by the time the rose withered she would once again return to her beautiful self. Ashamed of her new appearance, Galinda shut herself up in the castle with the Wizard's second gift; a magic mirror, her only connection to the world outside.

When winter ended, the King and Queen of the castle returned. They were shocked when they found no one there. But they were even more shocked when a beast claiming to be their daughter showed its face. They shook their heads, and refused to believe the beast's story. There was simply no way their beautiful girl could have turned into such a hideous monster. So they left. Left the castle. Left their belongings. Left her.

Abandoned and forgotten by her own parents, the princess refused to ever leave the castle. If her face was so appalling to even her own parents, surely her curse would never be broken. And the years slipped by.

As the years passed, Galinda lost any glimmer of hope that she would ever return to normal. Her castle fell into disrepair, and the woods around the castle's walls grew wild and dangerous. The only part of the castle that remained as beautiful as it once was, were the gardens, which seemed to grow nothing but roses.

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	2. Three Years Later

_**Three years later**_

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It was early. The sun had risen not even an hour before and already Elphaba was up and heading into the village. She prided herself on her timing, always arriving into town just as everything started its daily routine. The girl wore a simple frock, and strolled into town with a basket in one hand. In the basket was a single volume, the reason she headed into town so early every morning. She always went to visit the local library to borrow a new book.

Elphaba stepped into town and started winding her way down the streets. As she moved she counted mentally in her head. _And in three . . . two . . . one._ She nodded her head to herself.

"Bonjour!"

She grinned softly to herself as a cascade of 'bonjour's rang out into the streets as all the vendors seemed to open at once. They all greeted each other and chattered back and forth, Elphaba paid little mind to they're almost song like morning gossip exchange.

The girl loved hearing they cheerful exchange every morning. However being out in town, even for as good of a cause as getting a new novel as she was, had its downsides. Elphaba moved about seemingly lost in her own world, which invited the townspeople to add her into their gossiping. She watched the baker setting up the same breads and rolls he always sold, ignoring the jabbering of buying and selling. She couldn't help but overhear people talking though.

"Look there she goes."

"That girl is strange, no question."

With a soft wrinkle of her nose she hastened her pace a little and stepped into the library. It was small, to be sure, but the only source of books this town knew. Almost as soon as she opened the door, a tiny bell jingling in the act, a short old man appeared, pushing a pair of round glasses up his nose.

"Oh Elphaba good morning!"

"Good morning Mr. Dillamond," the girl chimed back, putting on a cheery face for the older man. He was quite amusing really, a nice fellow, but he looked undeniably goatish. His whitened hair was receding down his skull, though his goatee was still full beneath a long nose in defiance of the hair loss. "Got anything new?"

The man chuckled as he took the book Elphaba was returning and dusted imaginary dirt off its cover, "Not since yesterday dear."

"Oh," The girl sighed, only marginally disappointed running a finger over the spines of books lining the shelves, "In that case I suppose I'll just borrow this one again!"

Mr. Dillamond looked at the volume she had in her hand now and shook his head, replacing the novel in his hands upon the shelves, "That one again? You must have read it a dozen times!" He laughed good naturedly.

"I know but it's my favorite," The girl sighed dreamily, putting the book in her basket.

"Very well then, enjoy it," the goatish old man waved Elphaba farewell as she vanished outside once more. Her cheer was short lived though for as soon as she stepped out into the streets again her ears were bombarded with gossip once more.

"It's true her looks have no parallel."

"Yes it's only a pity about that skin."

"Green as sin!"

Elphaba grumbled darkly before grabbing up the book and shoving her nose in it. It was easier to ignore everyone's chatter when she focused on the words written on the page before her. She maneuvered the streets expertly as her feet led her to her next errand. She never once raised her nose from the pages as she picked up a few rolls of bread, a flower, and moved back towards her house. She was nearly at the edge of town when she was stopped suddenly by someone snatching her book from her hands. She blinked once before turning to face the novel napper.

"Fiyero may I have my book back please," her words less of a question and more of a statement.

The young tanned man looked at the novel sideways, flipping the pages absently. He stayed on no page long enough to take in anything aside from the mass quantities of words on each one. His brow furrowed, skewing the blue diamonds he had tattooed down his face.

"How do you _read_ this?" He pondered, voice somewhere between pure curiosity and disgust.

"It's easy, I read one word, and then the next, until I make it all the way to the back cover," Elphaba said drily, holding a hand out for the book. Fiyero shook his head and tossed the book over his shoulder.

"Well, enough of that. Listen, Elphaba, it's time you stopped paying so much attention to those things. Why don't you pay attention to me instead?" The princely man suggested as he tugged lightly at his collar and leaned toward Elphaba suavely.

Elphaba said nothing, rolling her eyes as she went to fetch her book, flicking it lightly to get the dirt off it. She stood and turned, throwing the man of the town an emotionless look before moving away. "Thanks, but no thanks."

Fiyero's shoulders sank as she moved away. Rejected? No one rejects Fiyero! Just as he thought he might go after her, a person less than half the brute's size ran up with a huge bag over his shoulder. An odd smell came from it, and every once in a while a feather would fall from it. The shorter man also carried a riffle bigger than he was. Boq flat out laughed as he jogged the hunting bag up on his shoulder before talking.

"I told you there would be no wooing her!"

"Shut up!" Fiyero huffed, eyeballing his little friend, "She's the only girl in town that comes anywhere _near_ my level of handsome," he paused to run a hand through his hair, and somewhere nearby a small flock of girls swooned, "Besides, that skin is absolutely exotic. I must have her!"

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Elphaba did not stop again before she arrived home. She dropped her things inside before taking the flower she'd purchased and moving out to the backyard. There she approached a single stone that marred the beautiful landscape. A grave marker. With a sorrowful smile the green girl knelt and placed the flower down.

"Hello mother," she started somberly, "Father is off preaching again, so he couldn't come visit you. I hope you'll settle for me instead."

She spoke for a few moments more, giving the stone the news around town. Mostly about father. It was only for him that she would have been out here. Elphaba loved her mother, but wasn't religious enough to think that speaking to her grave marker would cause the woman's 'spirit' to hear her. So she mostly spoke to herself, within close enough range of the stone that it could listen if it so chose.

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Elsewhere, said Father made his way through the woods on his way home. He'd gone out of town for a sermon, and was just now finding his was back, as the sun began to set. Frex had been through the woods before, so naturally he didn't worry. Besides he had the Unnamed God on his side, with faith nothing could happen to him.

So he thought.

Somewhere in the distance a haunting noise echoed throughout the woods. Instantly Frex's horse spooked, and try though he might the priest could not calm it. When the noise came again, closer this time, the horse jumped and bolted, knocking Frex from its saddle in the process. Within an instant Frex was alone, unarmed, and quickly becoming spooked himself.

The man picked up a large branch, struggling with its size, and looked around to see where the noise had come from. When nothing but the wind blew he shouted a threat in no way in particular, "I am protected by the Unnamed God! You cannot hurt me!"

Almost a protest to his declaration an arrowed whizzed through the air, lodging itself into the bark of the branch Frex held, knocking it from his hands. The priest needed no further invitation to turn tail and run. He rushed as fast as he could through the woods, not even paying attention to which way he ran. The air filled with all sorts of noise and calls. _Bandits,_ the priest panicked to himself.

As he ran though, the noises suddenly stopped, and he ran headlong into a gate. Without pausing to think he managed to open the rusted lock and go inside, hurriedly closing the wrought iron gate behind him. He peered out to the woods, but saw nothing. The sudden lack of pursuit almost made him think he'd imagined the entire thing. He turned around to take in his new surroundings, and found himself face to face with what appeared to be an abandoned castle. Since the sun had already gone down though, he welcomed himself in for the night.

There was no one there when he knocked, the door opened by itself. And there was no one around, though the table was set with a full meal. There was no one who joined him as he ate his fill. And no one who stopped him as he found a room and slept through the night.

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The next morning he took his leave. And as he walked towards the gate he passed through a garden he hadn't noticed in the dark. It was full of the most beautiful roses he'd ever seen. Instantly he was reminded of his wife, and how he had not been able to visit her resting place because of the bandits. Thinking that since no one had been around all the night before, there would be no harm in helping himself to a rose. So he stepped towards one of the bushes to cut a rose from it. As soon as he had there was a deep growl, and the sun from behind him was blocked out.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Frex turned around and found himself face to face with a monster. He gulped deeply and dropped the rose he had plucked. The beast's icy blue eyes seemed to stare right through him, and he was sure he was going to die right then and there. He opened his mouth silently, but before he could even think of saying anything the beast roared.

"Ungrateful man!" Its voice was deep, and snarling with every word, "I give you food, and I give you shelter, and you repay me by _stealing from my garden_?!"

"Please, sir I meant no disrespect, I'm sorry!" Frex couldn't believe the words coming from his mouth; he was apologizing to what, an animal? An overgrown beast of the forest?

The beast ground its teeth in disgust, rearing up to its full height, "Oh, you _will be_ sorry!"

With that the beast grabbed Frex by the cuff of his shirt and dragged him back towards the castle. Frex made a silent prayer under his breath as he was hauled away.

The rose lay forgotten on the path.

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_**A/N: **__Some of you might notice that this doesn't precisely follow Disney's Beauty and the Beast. A lot of this first part is inspired by the original folk tale of the Beauty and the Beast, which you can find online somewhere._


	3. The Rescue Effort

_**A/N: **__ Normally I place these at the end of each chapter but I really feel I need to get this out of the way first. Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews and everything. I would like to apologize greatly for my absence and not responding to any of you. I really truly appreciate your time and comments. That aside, my computer spontaneously died a while back and took all the progress I had on this story with it. However, I'm feeling rather inspired about this lately and am hoping to at least ride said inspiration out for a few chapters, if not until I manage to finish. Thanks for your patience guys! _

_On a side note, we won't be hearing from Fiyero or Boq for a while, so enjoy them while they're around. :3_

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_**The Rescue Effort**_

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"Dismissed. Rejected. Publicly humiliated! Why, It's more than I can bear," Fiyero groaned halfheartedly while flopping unceremoniously into his favorite tavern chair. Boq shuffled up next to the chair, observing the girl passing outside the window. It had been a whole day since Elphaba had shrugged off Fiyero's advances and he was still mourning over the loss of his pride instead of moving on like he usually did. Not that there was anything usual about the winkie being turned down.

"I don't understand why you're so bent out of shape. I mean this is Elphaba we're talking about. Why are you even so interested in her when you can easily have any other girl you want?" The munchkin questioned dully, placing a glass of beer nearly as big as he was on the chair's arm.

"Why?" Fiyero barked, alarming not only his friend but also the people at the table on the other side of the tavern. "Biq, look at her!" The larger man jumped up, wrapping a powerful arm around his friend's neck and pulling him to the window where Elphaba was passing by after her daily stop at the library. "She's perfection! Face so slender, skin so smooth! She's just so exotic!" He paused for a moment to sigh distantly as the green woman moved off towards her house. "She's tragically beautiful."

Boq stiffened as he found himself in a choke hold, his arms instantly wrapping around the one around his neck so that he could still breathe. Albeit barely. The smaller man looked out the window to where Fiyero's free arm was pointing, huffing slightly at the monologue. He pulled a face and muttered to himself, "No I think you mean beautifully tragic."

Fiyero took no notice of this comment as he dropped his friend back to his feet and flopped into his chair once again. Boq shook his head, he had to find some way to get Fiyero out of this slump.

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While Boq was busy fretting over how to get Fiyero to be his usual self again, Elphaba was already situating herself on the front porch with another book she'd read before. By as early as an hour before noon she'd already nearly halfway finished the book. She grinned inwardly at the image adorning one side of the book. Normally she read books that didn't have images but today's novel was a piece of fiction, and as such, was graced by the occasional piece of artwork to compliment the words. As a general rule of thumb she avoided such fairy tales like the plague, but every once in a while she felt the need to indulge in the jovial stories that only fiction could provide.

This particular image was of a prince seated atop of a rearing white horse. The lines were beautiful and the prince seemed even more heroic with the light of the setting sun behind him. With a desolate sigh green fingers brushed the page as she half sung to herself, "Here's where she meets prince charming." Her voice trailed, vaguely wondering if anything like these stories ever happened in real life. It didn't take her long to decide that they didn't, but for the sake of humoring herself she entertained the idea for a little bit longer. Her daydream was short lived as she realized there was suddenly less light on the picture she was staring at.

Starting, her head swung up to be greeted by the sight of the family horse rearing up just like the horse in the picture. Her breath caught as she jumped back, shoving the chair she was sitting in back a couple of inches. The horse landed and just stared at the green girl, who was panting over the animal's sudden appearance.

"Philippe? Don't _do _that. What the. . . where's father?" the girl managed to choke out past her slowly calming heart. The horse jerked its head towards the road frantically, apparently having understood exactly what the girl had said. In turn, the girl squinted her eyes at the road apparently having understood exactly what the horse had meant. She swallowed hard in contemplation; her dad had been lost in somewhere along the way? Brown eyes glanced over at Philippe from the corner of her vision.

She just couldn't believe her luck. The poor girl just wanted to read her books in peace and now something like this had to happen? Elphaba groaned under her breath, maybe she should just leave Frex out there to starve, or die from exposure. He'd do that to her, she was certain of it. He'd never been a particularly loving father. A pair of green hands then rose to connect with her temples. No what was she thinking! Even then he was still her father, wasn't he? And he'd been out there for at least a night already. Her eyes trailed off to a set of rather imposing looking clouds growing on the horizon. Of course fate would choose this afternoon of all afternoons to rain, wouldn't it?

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Much deliberation later, and a fair deal of time after that in which she struggled into her "raingear" the green girl was off. Not that anyone could recognize her as green under all the clothes she was wearing. She wasn't even really recognizable as female under all the clothes she'd covered herself with. The only skin visible on the girl anymore was the skin immediately around her eyes, and even then with the sky growing darker it was easy to pass of the odd pigmentation as merely a trick of the light. The biggest downfall to this outfit was that anything she attempted to say was muffled to the point of incoherence, a trait she knew of the gear and thus resigned herself to silence even if she had something to say. It generally wasn't worth the hassle, or risk, of exposing her entire head just for a sarcastic remark.

With a dark look at the horse, as if blaming this all on the cowardly animal, she slung her leg over the saddle and adjusted herself. She instantly regretted the glare, as if sensing the regret wash off the creature in strokes, and pat him gently at the base of his neck. Philippe took this as a good sign and perked up a little bit, although he still was obviously upset over having to go back into the bandit infested woods. They sat and stared down the road for a moment more before Elphaba gently nudged the horse with her heel, reminding him that he was leading this expedition and to get to it. Philippe grudgingly complied.

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By the time the clouds looked ready to spill their contents all over the Elphaba and the rest of the world, Philippe had managed to find where he abandoned Frex. From there it was easy for Elphaba to track his rampage through the woods even from horseback. If the woods around them seemed eerily empty before, it was certainly a much stronger feeling now. Even the green girl herself could help it as a shudder went down her spine as the wind howled forlornly through the branches.

The again she couldn't decide whether it was the spooky sound effects, or the fact that she'd just come across a huge abandoned castle in the middle of the woods that cause her shiver. In the end she decided she's simply imagine the shudder, as it was foolish to be frightened by either of those things, and prodded Philippe to get him to go up to the gate.

This was a fact he sincerely did not appreciate, especially when the gate's only lock was rusted and had fallen to the ground, allowing him to push the old gate open with his nose. Despite its heavy appearance the gate swung open with ease and clanged loudly as it hit the wall it was connected to, the sound echoing through the courtyard.

Elphaba cringed at the noise as the pair continued forward to the door. The heavily clothed woman couldn't help but notice a lone rose on the path, cut from its bush, and the dragging scuffle marks through the dust on the path leading to the door. Underneath her mask she pulled a face. Her father might not have been the buffest man alive, but he was still fairly large as far as height went. Someone strong lived here. She mulled over what this person could possibly look like as she hopped down from the saddle. The girl paused only once before pushing open the door. Perhaps it was less like some_one_, and more like some_thing_. Her brown eyes lingered on the ground in front of the heavy oak door only long enough to take note that whatever lived here was not only strong, but large, and certainly not like anything she'd ever seen or imagine before.

She grumbled something behind her mask and scuffed her foot, hiding her revelation from the horse so as he wouldn't spook and run off again. Shooting him a warning glance she stepped inside, fully expecting to have to sneak around to avoid whatever lived here. Because certainly, only a beast could have left a paw print like the one she'd just seen.


	4. A Twister of Fate

_**A Twist[er] of Fate**_

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Taking an extra moment, Elphaba stuck a branch she'd found outside though the partially open door before anything else. If her suspicions were true she certainly didn't want to be mauled for opening a door. Then again if her suspicions were true the chances that her father was still alive were slim anyways. As she wiggled the branch though, she could have sworn she heard giggling coming from inside, and if not giggling, then certainly speech of some sort. Feeling a little empowered by the noise she withdrew the branch and decided to sneak in normally. What if the noises were her father?

The green girl nudged the door open just far enough for her to sneak through, hoping that it would be closed enough to not raise suspicions if the creature found it ajar (for some reasons he found herself giving it human thoughts) but open enough for her to make a swift escape if needed. She stayed close to the walls as she made her way towards the grand staircase at the end of the foyer. At this point she was allowing herself to be led by instinct and nothing else, the more logical part of her mind too focused on the possibility of animal attack. She took careful note that if she survived this would make an excellent story.

As she neared the foot of the staircase she hesitated. Somewhere the logical part of her head told her to check the ground level first, maybe even basement levels, because a beast that fit the paw print outside couldn't possibly enjoy hauling itself upstairs constantly. Then that same logical part chided itself because there'd never been a beast with a paw like the one outside and that she couldn't possibly know its habits, and instead allowed her feet to run navigation once more. However her feet took what her mind had said into consideration before leading her down a hall next to the main staircase instead.

Part of her couldn't help but feel as if it were less her feet leading, as some muffled sort of whispering noises she kept imagining. She was sure she was imagining them because why would anyone possibly voluntarily live where a monster lurked. Still her feet carried on through what had once been the workers areas before finding another staircase that wound itself up into a tower. It was as she was climbing this staircase she'd noticed that the ground floor had been abnormally light, despite not being reached by the outside light. This was mostly brought on by the fact that this tower was light by nothing but outside light and the cloud cover had grown to a terrible climax and she feared having to leave during a storm. Somewhere outside thunder rumbled confirming her fears.

At long last the stairs leveled out into a room that was very dimly lit, to the point that it was almost not lit at all. In fact the only light in the room shown down from a tiny hole in the ceiling. The girl couldn't help but grumble from behind her mask at the lack of proper lighting. At this point she realized she was rather hung up on the amount of light and made another small snort at herself for caring so much, and figured it must have been some sort of self defense mechanism to forget that there could be a terrible beast creeping in the shadows.

This train of thought was soon derailed as she heard a rustling noise behind one of the doors, coincidentally the one almost directly under the room's only source of light. Elphaba couldn't help but roll her eyes at this coincidence as she stepped forward cautiously. Only now did she inspect the room itself a little bit more, and realized that this was clearly some sort of holding area for prisoners, the barred slots at the bottom of the door were proof enough for that. There was another shifting noise and a face presented itself behind said bars.

"Fae?" Her father croaked out, his eyes looking haunted. Somewhere in her mind she was scolding him for getting lost and for being such a wimp, because really he'd been missing less than a day, but that part was shoved aside as she fell gratefully to her knees before the door. She acknowledged him with a glance before scooting over to take a look at the hinges, which she was far more likely to be able to gain access to the cell with than through the surprisingly well kept lock.

"Oh little Fae, I'm so glad you came!" he continued to wheeze, gaining only a silencing glance from his daughter. For once he took heed of her wishes and shut his trap instead of blathering on, which Elphaba appreciated even if she didn't understand. Until, that is, the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end and a bone chilling shudder reverberated from her spine. She slowly turned to see that one spot of the room was darker than the rest now, vaguely forming a silhouette that was easily taller than herself and twice as wide. She gulped a little as a pair of glowing orange eyes bored into her very being.

The eyes glinted a bit, showing that they were only such a color because it was so dark in the room, the light reflecting off the creature's retinas. The animal growled lowly and Elphaba, at that precise moment, had silently resigned herself to dying in this forsaken tower. That is until a voice that belonged to neither her nor her father spoke.

"Who is trying to steal my prisoner?" The creature's eyes glinted as it spoke, clearly looking Elphaba up and down. Elphaba, still having her speech impeded by her rain gear said nothing. A fact which her father gladly took to barter for his own freedom.

"My first born! Please take he-," he never got to finish as the beast roared unhappily at him.

"You would trade your first born for your own needs? Some sort of parent you are!" The beast's voice echoed dangerously throughout the tiny room, causing all of its inhabitants to fall into a hushed silence. Frex swallowed audibly, but said nothing, obviously not thinking better to retract his offer. The beast sniffed absently before continuing, "Besides, of what use is your son to me?"

Elphaba scoffed indignantly, a fact which was lost in the cloth surrounding her face, Frex however played along to his advantage. If the Beast wanted Elphaba to be a son and the girl herself had no way to refute the fact, then so be it.

"He's very useful. Strong, and loyal. He came here to save me didn't he? And he's terribly gifted, a good mind and a good voice," At least he wasn't completely lying; it was true that she had a good voice.

A rumbling noise came from the other side of the room, as if the beast were contemplating something. After a moment it shifted before mumbling to itself. At that point there was a clacking noise and three small flames seemed to appear at the beast's side, hardly casting enough light to reach the floor let alone illuminate the room. "He could help you break the curse." A new voice added to the conversation. The beast growled and reached a hand over to swat at the lights to shoo it away.

"Curse?" Elphaba heard her father ask, thinking that he must want to die since clearly that statement was not meant for the pair of them to hear. The beast growled once more, orange flecks flicking back to the pairs direction at the words. Frex instantly shut his mouth. Once more the orange dots looked at Elphaba and glanced over her, for some reason she swore she could almost feel a sense of pity emanating from the beast. She huffed and looked away, not wishing to accept pity from a stranger, beast or not.

"He would stay for you sins?" the creature mulled darkly from where it sat, "And you would not try to escape and return to your father?" The beast added, in a somewhat softer tone than before, obviously awaiting a reply from Elphaba herself.

Frex paused for a moment, considering before he replied, "Yes, and I find it unlikely tha-,"

"Let _him_ answer!" the creature roared, cutting across Frex's words again and apparently insulted that he had chosen to open his mouth again at all.

Thinking on his feet the priest quickly shot back. "He can't, he's a mute."

The beast seemed to consider this, looking at the oddly clad Elphaba for a third time as if waiting for the "son" to contest this answer. When contest came none orange orbs slid over to the cell door once more. The shadow shifted and stood, proving without a doubt that it was indeed taller than Elphaba by a good head or so.

"Deal," it huffed simply leaping forward into the light for the first time. Elphaba caught her breath for a moment, not because of the way the beast looked, but because of certain other facts that had now presented themselves. While the creature ignored her and ripped open the door, the green girl took careful note of its movement and body build. She was glad now that she had always had a soft spot for life sciences and generally spent her time wading through biological manuscripts instead of fairytales like the one she'd been reading earlier today. Just from this brief moment she could already tell so much about the creature.

As the beast rushed off with her father in tow, Elphaba rushed to the window within the cell and peered down. Within moments the beast and her father were on the front steps of the castle, the beast tossing her father in the general direction of a very terrified Philippe. Her father scrambled onto the horse and wasted no time in galloping away from the castle at a speed she wasn't sure she'd ever witnessed Philippe move on his own, let alone with a passenger.

The scientifically inclined girl pieced together the bits of what had happened in the past twenty minutes as the clouds outside rumbled threateningly before the first few drops of rain began to fall. The picture wasn't complete yet, and at this point she cursed herself for not reading more fairytales because this certainly seemed like it was from one. Or at least a very dark work of fiction.

The girl sighed and slouched against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position. She glanced disinterestedly at the cell walls, figuring she'd better get comfy in here. Elphaba shifted uncomfortably and briefly considered starting to remove her rain gear because it was making the lofty tower seem hotter than it actually was. With a wary glance at the ceiling she had to reconsider because more than likely it was bound to start leaking if it rained hard enough, and it was starting to come down in buckets. Just as she was about to throw caution to the wind and remove at least the cloth wrapped around her head a dull rumbling noise caught her attention.

Outside the tiny room she'd taken up there came a dull murmuring. The green girl eyeballed the mostly shut door questioningly before it was opened slowly. The Beast stood there a bit awkwardly, apparently torn between deciding what to say and just walking away. Elphaba made no move to prompt it, and for a moment the creature truly seemed to consider just leaving, when another small voice whispered from behind it somewhere.

"We. . ." the Beast trailed its voice decidedly less gruff now edging on friendly. Elphaba smiled inwardly, taking the new tone as another piece of evidence that her current theory was correct, although more investigation might be needed. The Beast cleared its throat and tried to speak again. "I'll take you to your room then," and after a questioning looked from the well clothed prisoner added, "Wh-what? You wanna stay in the tower?"

Elphaba needed to further invitation, hoping up from the floor quickly and stepping after the creature, making sure to stay far enough behind that she might be able to dodge an attack if the creature changed its mind. The Beast seemed to smile, if the green girl was inclined to believe animals could smile, and moved aside to let her through before leading her down the steps she came from. It seemed to ramble on for a little bit about the castle and how to feel at home, placing a restriction on the west hall. Elphaba made sure to nod from time to time to feign attentiveness, browns eyes far more interested in making a mental map of the halls she was walking.

When they apparently reached the end of their journey the Beast stood aside again to let Elphaba walk into the room. It extended a dinner invitation, which seemed rather more like a demand, before allowing the door to fall shut.

As soon as the door had latched shut Elphaba began shuffling out of her rain gear. She'd only managed to completely remove the cloth wrapped around her face when a voice interrupted her. The girl jumped and spun around, she was sure she hadn't heard the door open, but she supposed it was possible she'd missed it as she was busy taking off her head gear. Wide brown eyes scanned the room but found nothing out of the oridinary. Just as her heart was beginning to slow it's pace again the armoire seemed to shift and the voice was heard again.

"It's so exciting to have someone staying in the castle again oh my, oh my!"

Elphaba peered closer at the piece of furniture, suspecting someone was hiding inside, when the entire piece hobbled forward. Her eyes widened again and she stumbled back, a scream of alarm stuck in her throat without ever having made an audible noise. The armoire stopped and appeared to stoop. Only then did Elphaba see that 'face' at the top of the piece of furniture.

"Oh dear are you unwell? You look awfully green around the gills," the armoire asked, sincerely concerned. One of the doors opened and reached out as if to check the green girl's temperature only to have her jerk back.

"I've always been this colour," Elphaba snarked, brows furrowing. She'd found her voice again. The furniture straightened, eye's wide.

"You have a very feminine voice."

"That would be because I am a female," the green girl half barked once more, having found the alarming animation of the furniture to be both incredibly strange and rude.

Said furniture seemed taken aback before commenting softly, "The mistress is not going to be very happy about this."

There it was, the last piece of evidence Elphaba wanted before declaring her hypothesis correct. The Beast was female.

-:-

_**A/N:**_ _Heh, I'm on a roll tonight. If anyone is still keeping up with this story if and when you respond please be sure to tell me if the story is moving along too quickly._

_On a side note I think I left you all with more questions than answers this round, this pleases me. More explanations if you stay tuned!_

_**EDIT:**__ I've changed the end of this chapter so that it goes along with the next one better. If you read this before I get the next chapter up I'm hoping to have it up within the next couple of days, sorry for keeping you all waiting so long! Again thanks for all the watches and favourites, I hope I don't disappoint you all as the story progresses!_


	5. Going Well

_**A/N**__: Heads up! This author's note is at the top of the story for a reason and that reason it to warn you all that the end of the previous chapter has changed! I'm not sure why I wrote it as it had been given that I have a plan for this story and that ending did not match it at all but I did. Momentary lapse of judgment I suppose. Anyways if you haven't already you might want to go back and read that._

_Other than that, sorry about the huge wait. And while I'm at it I'm going to apologize for any future huge waits and just say that I hope you guys like this enough to stick around even if I'm a horrible person and don't update for ages. Enjoy!_

-:-

**Going Well**

-:-

Elphaba thought she was taking the furniture talking to her surprisingly well. In fact she found it quite alarming that the Armoire had had a whole conversation with her and gotten her changed into a completely new dress before the green girl had questioned its ability to speak. Before she had a chance to ask it though, and Elphaba thought it strange to ask the furniture anything, it was ushering her out the door for dinner.

The double doors to her room shut loudly behind her. Raven hair spun with the girl as she shot a dark look back at the doors, feeling the furniture was being ruder than even normal furniture. At least you didn't expect normal furniture to reply. This furniture not only spoke back but also threw you out of your own room. Elphaba snorted softly before checking both directions the hall she found herself in. After a moment she went the direction she remembered the Beast leading her to get there, vaguely figuring she'd find the dining hall eventually if she found her way back to the main hall.

Before she'd gotten half way down the hall she was blocked from going any further by two spears crossing in front of her.

"Not so fast there my fine lady!"

"Indeed what's your rush?"

Elphaba took half a step back and instantly followed the spear's handles to their origin. Which appeared to be two fully clad knights standing on either side of the hall. Finally, some normal people! Generally people didn't make her so happy but given that she'd been pulled into some sort of upside down world where furniture spoke and there was a seven foot tall Beast roaming around. She was about to talk when on the the knight's heads swiveled to look at his partner.

"I dare say Crope, you were right!"

"I told you that they seemed to be green under all that cloth, you thought it was just a trick of the light! Still though you were right as well, how did you know she was a girl under all that fabric Tibbett?"

"A true man can tell a lady no matter how well she hides it."

"Clearly you're such a man you bucket of bolts!"

Before the green girl could but in the spears moved and the two knights hit each other in a sort of fight, never moving from the opposite sides of the hall where they stood. In fact Elphaba noticed that their bodies never even turned to face her, instead they stood facing the other side of the hall constantly. They also seemed to echo eerily as they hit each other, spitting insults at one another. Contorting her face she stepped forward and nudged the visor up on one of them. The inside was completely empty.

"Now see here," the suit echoed from somewhere in its gut, Crope she believed this one was, "I think we could be good friends but don't you think you're rushing into things a bit?"

Elphaba started and stepped back, her cheeks deepening in shade a little at his implication; it was proper to assume the suit was he right? He seemed to chuckle as on arm rose to put down the visor. The other suit laughed heartily from where it stood.

"Now Crope look you've embarrassed her! Nice one though, eh?"

The pair reached out their spears and clanged them together in a sort of clap since their arms couldn't reach across the hall. Elphaba cleared her throat before finding her voice again, "Do you two always stand around here?"

"Quite! I'm afraid our feet are quite stuck where they are don't you know." Tibbett commented matter-of-factly.

"Yes, sorry to say you'll have to get used to seeing us around, won't you?" Crope joked back. Elphaba cast a wary glance at the pair before she heard a dull thunking noise. Momentarily a small clock appeared at the end of the hall.

The day just kept getting more and more bizarre.

"Crope, Tibbett! Are you holding up our guest? Stop that now, the Clock waved what appeared to be hands at the pair and it waddled down the hall. Elphaba took note that the hand on the clocks face seemed to be strangely absent.

"Sorry about them, they're rather immature aren't they?" The Clock shot the pair a dark look. Given the Clock's voice and behavior Elphaba deemed it appropriate to assume it was feminine, just like the Armoire had been. After chiding the Suits the Clock, which rose barely halfway up Elphaba's shin, turned to look up at her. Its eyes widened in a panic and it almost seemed to start sweating, which was impossible given it was made of wood. "O-oh dear."

Presently there was the clanking noise that the green girl had heard earlier and she vaguely wondered what new and absurd object she'd meet now. Around the corner hopped a Candelabra, which instantly spotted the slowly growing congregation and hopped towards them.

"Milla, lovely, there you are! What are you waiting for, bring our guest to dinner won't you?" Instantly Elphaba identified the brass candle holder as male. It came to a stop next to Milla, apparently the name of the Clock, and took in her worried expression before turning up to look at Elphaba. The green girl's face frowned down at the pair, feeling as though she was missing something. Surely she couldn't be that much of a disappointment for being a female. Then again maybe it was the green they were worried about.

The Candelabra seemed less than concerned though, instead a wide grin spreading across its features. "Oh, this is going to be good," it bowed before continuing, "Mademoiselle my name is Avaric, if you will follow me we'll take you to the dining hall for your dinner."

Elphaba nodded absently and followed them, the Clock shooting a warning back to the Suits before frantically waddling ahead to catch up with the Candelabra. The green girl heard them whispering and Milla swatted at Avaric several times only to have her slaps fended off.

-:-

As they reached what she assumed was the dining hall both of the talking ornaments scooted in the door before her. She heard Milla introduce her uneasily, the clocks voice cracking or becoming weak several times. Elphaba swallowed before stepping in cautiously.

It was a small room, smaller than she's expected leastways. Perhaps a less formal dining hall, but the table still stretched across the room. Elphaba noted the room's warmness not only in colour but also in the way of being literally warm because of the fire to one side of the room. She dusted her dress, a dark blue and simple sort of thing, and looked anywhere but at the Beast that was sitting at the opposite end of the room. A good place for the Beast since Elphaba was certain it, she even, had a short temper and given all of the servants' reactions the Beast's couldn't possibly be any better.

When she first walked in the Beast had on what she could only assume it thought was a smile. Given the sheer amount of teeth involved though Elphaba though it looked a bit more similar to a snarl, though she had to take notice that the Beast's lips were curved up ever so slightly. Still though.

"How _kind_ of you to join us," the beast half-purred, it seemed a bit forced though, but the green girl figured perhaps the creature hadn't conversed in a long while with someone from outside the castle. Elphaba ducked a small curtsey in return.

After having spoken the Beast opened its eyes, which had previously been forced shut due to the large smile on its face. As soon and it did so its face went blank. As if it was having an information overload. Its jaw hung lamely open as it gaped a few times, a look Elphaba found unappealing on humans let alone strange furry creatures.

"You're a woman!"

Elphaba couldn't decide whether she was relieved it, no she, had skipped over the fact she was green or not. The girl nodded and spoke, "Yes, and I'm a bit upset that everyone feels the need to keep telling me that. Surely it can't be that hard to tell."

She looked down at herself to accentuate her point, and couldn't help the edge that worked its way into her speech. It was just how she spoke. When she looked back up the Beast had sat up straight, its eyes almost humorously large.

"You can speak!"

"Well that's two for two," Elphaba scoffed. After having spoken she bit her tongue and looked to the wall, hoping the Beast would pick up that she hadn't meant to be so harsh without her having to admit it.

"Hah!" The beast stood, slamming its paws onto the table, "I don't think it is two for two. Your father is a liar; he said you were a son and that you were mute!"

"I was at the time," the girl paused, trying to keep her tone as mild as she could handle for fear of further enraging the Beast. "In the outfit I wore earlier it is not possible for me to speak. And technically he did not say I was a son, he merely agreed with you who thought I was his son."

A pair of icy blue eyes gazed down the long table at the girl, as if contemplating her words. Elphaba noticed Milla waddle up to the beast and cautiously touch a hand to its foot, murmuring something undoubtedly in an attempt to calm it. She happened to catch what she guessed to be the Beast's name. Swallowing deeply she decided to take a risk.

"Look I'm not sure why you're so terribly upset that I'm a woman but I assure you I can keep fairly good company when obliged. I'm intelligent and a decent conversationalist, at most I may be a bit opinionated but overall I would venture to say I'm quite a lovely person," She looked straight across the table and met the beast's eye as she finished, "It's lovely to meet you Miss Glinda, my name is Elphaba."

The beast snarled lowly, its voice dropping a few octaves as a result. "It's _Ga_-linda. With a _Ga_. And as wonderfully conceited as you just made yourself out to be you are still a woman. A _green_ one at that." Avaric stepped in then, or hopped rather, and muttered something. If she wasn't mistaken Elphaba even spotted the teapot move as well. Galinda looked at each of them as they spoke but in the end cast one last glance at Elphaba before roaring in distaste and stampeding from the room.

All of the animated objects in the room looked at Elphaba who took a deep breath before exhaling, "Well, I think that went well."


	6. Be Our Guest

-:-

**Be Our Guest**

-:-

The rain that night turned to snow bringing with it the official start of winter. Elphaba retired early, having figured she'd done enough damage for one evening. She stirred sometime in the night to the sound of dull clinking, only to see her breath curling before her face. With a shallow shiver the green girl stirred enough to glance to the foot at her bed where something, one of the servants and the source of the clinking no doubt, had started a fire in the small alcove. At this point the woman became acutely aware of a snoring sort of sound from beside her bed. She figured if the furniture all talked she shouldn't be surprised when it snored as well.

By the next morning the green girl stood at her window looking out into the snow covered world. Her breath fogged the window even though her room was acceptably warm thanks to the fire that had been well stoked throughout the night. Her attention snapped back tot he room at the dull knock there was at the door before it swung open far enough for a rolling cart to move in. Every moment here led to new questions, even if they didn't seem to have logical answers. For example : how did that cart roll with no one pushing it? Though the answer was probably along the lines of : because it's magical.

"Oh nice and toasty in here now isn't it? Nanny could get used to this," a Teapot on top of the cart commented sweetly as the cart approached Elphaba where she stood before the window.

The green girl tried to hold back the laughter tickling at her throat at the Teapot, she wasn't sure why but she already liked this 'woman'.

"I told you she was pretty Nanny," another smaller voice chimed in.

At this Elphaba's brow creased and she looked closer at the rolling tray and all of the 'people' on it. There was a tray that had fruits and cheeses on it, the Teapot, and a sugar bowl and cream pitcher the two latter of which didn't seem to be animated like so much of the furniture and chinaware. Surely there was something else there that had spoken.

As if reading her thoughts the Teapot moved and turned around, nudging a small Teacup from behind it, "Come Nessarose this is no time to be shy, Nanny doesn't have time for this."

The teacup huffed a little bit and hopped forward to have tea poured in it. Elphaba noticed it, no the Teacup was definitely a she with that demeanor, had no handle. She had little time to ponder the oddness of this before the tiny cup moved up to the edge of the rolling tray without spilling a drop. Nessarose looked up at Elphaba expectantly, though never once smiling.

Tentatively the raven haired girl reached down to pick up the cup. Nessa giggled little bit but said nothing until she was raised to about Elphaba's chest level when the scientifically inclined girl paused to wonder the implications of drinking from a sentient cup.

"My name is Nessarose," the Teacup commented when Elphaba had take too long, "But most people call me Nessa, or Nessie even."

"Ah," the green girl stuttered uncharacteristically before replying, "I'm Elphaba."

She smiled lopsidedly at her lame finish, she'd never had a nick-name that she could present to the little cup.

"Snow sure did fall last night didn't it? Nanny doesn't like the weather, makes her joints ache." The Teapot commented off-handedly as she stared out the window.

The Wardrobe chimed in at this point adding, "Yes but at least it's nice to have a guest int he castle once more."

Elphaba turned her gaze out the window again as well, absent-mindedly raising the Cup to her lips and taking a sip of the warm tea. She hmmed softly in reply to Nanny's statement, wondering how a Teapot could have joints to ache at all.

She noted at the back of her mind that she would be here at least for the duration of winter now, though she hadn't ever considered going back home. Somehow remaining in a place with such a volatile housemate seemed as equally undesirable.

-:-

It wasn't until the new year had turned that the green girl saw more than passing glances of the beast. For the past two months their run-ins had been little more than looks from across halls, if that. It was alarming how easy it was to keep away from the only other 'person' in a castle of this size.

On the first weekend of the new month the sun shone above the snow strewn lawns, nice enough to entice the green girl to brave the moisture and venture outside. She needed some fresh air anyways, she hadn't been out since she arrived to save her father.

As her boots crunched softly in the snow she noticed the great hulking beast crouched in the gardens. At first she had thought it was a stray cloth that had covered one of the bushes, but as she got closer she could see the Beast's feet and curled blonde tail wrapped around her feet. The green girl approached slowly, hesitating when the Galinda turned to look over her shoulder. With a deep sigh the Beast turned back to look at the snow covered foliage, and what used to be her beautiful rose bushes.

"They've all frosted over now."

Elphaba noted that when she wasn't angry the Beast had quite a lovely voice really, not at all gruff or animalistic as one might have assumed it would be. With a soft smile she stepped closer, and closer again when Galinda didn't look back at her. When the Beast knelt like that Elphaba was a head-and-shoulders taller than her, without even thinking about it she reached out and rested her hand on the hulking shoulder before her.

"Yes but, they'll be back in Spring. And they'll be even prettier than they were before," the green girl replied, glad she hadn't bothered with all of her water-proofing gear and only the essentials.

The Beast seemed to rumble a bit, causing Elphaba to raise her hand from the shoulder it was resting on. "Don't belittle me, I know they'll be back. The grounds just seem so desolate without them."

With that Galinda stood to her full height and looked down at Elphaba briefly. The green girl looked up to those blue eyes and held the gaze, noting the brief glint of something that flashed in them. Was that, recognition? Or acknowledgement that maybe she wasn't so bad? Elphaba had never been all that great at reading people, emotion wise anyway. They stood for less than a moment before the Beast turned her shoulder and padded back towards the castle.

-:-

_**A / N **__: I know it took a long time for this one, I'll try to be better. Still throwing a mass shout out to everyone who has read / subscribed / commented. I know I'm rubbish at replying but I honestly do appreciate your time. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll try to be more reliable on these updates. _

_Short update for now, leaving something pretty epic for next chapter. Please forgive me! 3_


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